Relax, folks. Take a chill pill or go watch a replay of your favorite race involving Rachel Alexandra or Zenyatta.

There’s still plenty of time – 146 days to be exact – for these two spectacular female race horses to meet in 2009.

So calm down. Have a bowl of chowder or a glass of warm milk. Or better yet, repeat after me: Rachel and Zenyatta will square off sometime before the year is out.

There, feel better?

To those of you ripping owner Jerry Moss for keeping Zenyatta in California, for refusing to ship out of town and making him sound like some sort of modern-day Snidely Whiplash, let me remind you that Zenyatta could race four more times this year.

She’ll face nine rivals in Sunday’s Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar, and she’s scheduled to go in one of two Breeders’ Cup races in November – the Classic against the boys or the Ladies’ Classic against the best older fillies and mares in the world.

The other two?

Well, those are the wild cards. We don’t know where Zenyatta will run after the Clement Hirsch, but she could go in a number of directions.

One of those could be a potential race against Rachel Alexandra.

We just don’t know yet.

“It all depends on her,” Moss said this week. “It depends on the horse and it depends on what’s presented to us. I think last year we went from the Clement Hirsch to the Lady’s Secret. I’m not sure we’ll do that this year, but we’ll talk about it. We have time for another race between (the Clement Hirsch and Breeders’ Cup), and we’ll just have to figure it out.”

As messed up as the horse racing industry is, I have faith that high-ranking officials realize how vital it is for the good of the sport that these two magnificent distaffers meet before the year is out and will ensure it happens.

It won’t be the Breeders’ Cup because Rachel Alexandra’s co-owner, Jess Jackson, hates synthetic tracks after two-time Horse of the Year Curlin finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic over Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride surface last October.

Never mind that Curlin never was the same horse after returning from his victory in the Dubai World Cup. Jackson’s mind is made up and you’re not going to change it.

That leaves two openings for a Rachel-Zenyatta matchup – sometime next month or after the Breeders’ Cup. Either way, it’s a showdown that would generate enough pre-race hype to fill the infield at Churchill Downs on Derby day.

Don’t think there aren’t some racing secretaries somewhere right now working behind the scenes to lure these two superstars to their track, either by arranging a special race or perhaps increasing the purse of an existing stake to make sure it happens.

“I come from a business (music industry) where you dream about creating stars, and here we have two of the greatest horses that perhaps have ever run that are both running in the same year,” Moss said. “I think it’s just been amazing for the sport, and I think the sport should do more to publicize them even more because this is a tremendous happening to this game. We need it.”

Exactly.

But let’s not jump to conclusions. Don’t vilify Moss or Jackson quite yet until we know for sure they’re not going to meet. There’s a lot of racing at Churchill Downs and the Fair Grounds in New Orleans late this year, two venues that would be perfect hosts for Rachel and Zenyatta.

“We take it race by race,” Moss said. “This weekend we’re running in the Clement Hirsch and then we’ll see what we see, but I’m not making any blanket statements. I’m still open for the right circumstance, and when the right circumstance is presented to us then I guess we’ll sit around and we’ll talk and see what we can do.”

But let me play devil’s advocate.

Let’s say Rachel and Zenyatta don’t meet, that the marvelous mare runs only three more times this year and finishes her career with a 14-0 mark.

Imagine, if you will, that Rachel Alexandra, already 7-0 this year, finishes 9-0 to improve her career record to 12-3 and wins the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year in a landslide.

Is that so bad?

Yes, they never would have met, but both distaffers have huge followings and their fans would have plenty to celebrate at year’s end.

Zenyatta’s perfect record would be tainted in some people’s eyes without a win over males or a meeting with Rachel, which is why I think the Zenyatta folks are about to leave their comfort zone and take a chance.

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